A new rhodamine B based fluorometric chemodosimeter for Cu2+ ion in aqueous and cellular media

A simple, sensitive and selective fluorescent chemo dosimeter rhodamine B phenyl hydrazide (RBPH) for Cu2+ was proposed. This probe is non fluorescent and colorless but exhibits fluorescent enhancement at 580 nm and displayed color change from colorless to pink for Cu2+ in the pH range 1-6. Fluorescence microscope experimental results reveals that this chemo sensor is cell permeable and can be used for fluorescence imaging of Cu2+ ions in living cells. This probe can detect Cu2+ with good linear relationships from 10 to 100 nM with r=0.99971 then limit of detection was found to be 0.015 nM with +/- 0.91% RSD at 10 nM concentrations. 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A Fluorescent Chemodosimeter for Hg2+Based on a Spirolactam Ring-Opening Strategy and its Application Towards Mercury Determination in Aqueous and Cellular Media

A novel fluorescent chemosensor rhodamine B phenyl hydrazide (RBPH) for Hg2+ was designed and synthesized. This probe is highly sensitive, selective, and irreversible for Hg2+ and exhibits fluorescent response at 580 nm. RBPH also displayed detectable color change from colorless to pink upon treatment with Hg2+. This property has been utilized as naked eye detection for Hg2+ in various industrial samples. Fluorescence microscopic experiments demonstrated that this chemosensor is cell permeable and can be used for fluorescence imaging of Hg2+ in cellular media. This probe can detect Hg2+ with good linear relationships from 1 to 100 nM with r = 0.99983 and the limit of detection were found to be 0.019 nM with ± 0.91 % RSD at 10 nM concentrations

Determinants of Corporate Risk Disclosure in Annual Reports of UK Companies

The dissertation was focused on understanding the determinants of corporate risk disclosure in annual reports of UK companies. There were three key objectives to the research: (1) evaluate the determinants of narrative disclosure concerning risk management and internal control in the UK companies that is valuable to policy makers, (2) explain how companies disclose their financial information to various stakeholders – users, employees, government and clients among others, and (3) evaluate the knowledge resulting from the research and identify hints for future regulation and provide an impetus for more empirical research. The dissertation pursued a qualitative research based on secondary research. The summary findings and conclusions include the following: • Understanding motivations of firms in pursuing greater corporate risk disclosure. Firms have different motivations in providing increased disclosure and these include: (1) increased valuation, (2) better pricing of inputs, and (3) target specific investors. • Identifying the possible factors that drive the decisions of firms and which could be similar to own firms. Sector-specific rationale are important and, in the case of financial services firms, providing information on the illiquid assets and the amount written down are important particularly in the near-term where investors are searching for information. • Determine the best course of action related to corporate risk disclosures. Each firm will need to decide on the best course of action but certainly, some of the key principles in terms of disclosures, particularly for corporate risk, include the following: (1) provide increased transparency to the corporate risk management and internal controls processes and systems to provide investors and other stakeholders comfort and understanding, (2) ensure enough relevant information is provided to prevent any market rumours or speculation affect the business, and (3) ensure that the right individuals are in place and have the capability and skills to effectively perform the tasks. The dissertation showed that financial services firms provided greater disclosure of information in their annual reports versus retail sector firms

Association of abruptio placenta in patient with pre-eclampsia with severe features and without severe features

Background: Placental abruption is responsible for increased risk of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Studies specific to placental abruption in pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) are still lacking. This study is designed to focus on collecting data on placental abruption and to objectively determine its impact on the outcome of pregnancy complicated with PIH in terms of improving fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Methods: This was retrospective observational study conducted at Cheluvamba Hospital, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI), Mysore, in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology. All pregnant women with diagnosis of abruptio placenta over 28 weeks and with PIH between January 2022 to August 2023 were included. Data was collected from medical records department and results were analysed. Results: During the study period there were total of 14027 deliveries. Of this 63 (0.44%) occurred in patients with placental abruption with PIH. Mean age group was 24.57 years; majority were multigravida (58.46%) Majority were preterm (77.77%). 61.90% had pre-eclampsia with severe features. Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 151.90 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 98.73 mmHg. 65.08% delivered by caesarean section. 47.61% was the perinatal mortality, perinatal asphyxia was 45.71%, prematurity was 65.71%, low birth weight was 84.12%. 71.42% was the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission rate. Maternal complications seen was postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) (31.74%), requiring blood and blood products transfusion (63.49%), coagulopathy (14.28%), shock (12.69%). 4 women developed severe features of pre-eclampsia in postpartum period, 2 of them needed MgSO4. 58.73% had requirement of antihypertensives in postpartum period. Conclusions: Abruption is one of the obstetric emergencies. In our study severe adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes were more pronounced in pre-eclampsia with severe features and it needs an individual and intense surveillance and management to have better maternal and perinatal outcome

Maternal and fetal outcome in second stage caesarean section: a retrospective study

Background: This study aims to observe the maternal and neonatal outcomes of caesarean delivery performed in the second stage of labor. Methods: This was retrospective observational study conducted at Cheluvamba hospital, Mysore medical college, Mysore, in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. All second stage caesarean sections performed between January 2023 to June 2023 were analyzed in terms of incidence, indications of caesarean-section, intra-operative and postoperative complications, maternal and fetal outcome. Results: During the study period there were total 4194 deliveries. Out of this 1771 deliveries were done by caesarean section. Out of them 48 were 2nd stage caesarean sections contributing to 2.71% of total sections. Patwardhan method was used in 41.6% cases for delivery of deeply engaged head. Intra-operative complications were higher in terms of atonic pph (25%), hematuria (16.66 %). 14% cases had postoperative fever and 41.6% cases need prolonged catheterization. 20.83% babies required NICU admissions and neonatal death was 4.16%. Conclusions: Caesarean section in the 2nd stage of labour is associated with increased maternal and neonatal morbidity. A proper judgement is required by a skilled obstetrician to take a decision for caesarean section at full cervical dilatation

Pharmaceutical electrochemistry: the electrochemical oxidation of paracetamol and its voltammetric sensing in biological samples based on screen printed graphene electrodes.

We present a sensitive, fast and unmodified sensor for the electrochemical detection of paracetamol. The electrochemical behaviours of paracetamol on screen printed graphene electrodes were investigated for the first time by cyclic voltammetry. The results showed that the screen printed graphene electrodes revealed exceptional electrocatalytic activity to paracetamol. The response showed by this sensor was enhanced when it was compared to the bare screen printed electrodes. When Screen Printed Graphene Electrodes were compared to bare SPE, it was shown that the response with graphene was greater than without. This is due to its unique characteristics physical and chemical, pi-pi interactions and a strong adsorptive capability. In this manuscript, the effect of supporting electrolyte, pH and scan rate were also investigated. The oxidation peak current was linearly proportional to the concentration of paracetamol in the range from 0.1 to 50 mM with a limit of detection of 20nM based on (3-s/slope), under the optimum conditions. The proposed method was successfully applied to paracetamol determination in in biological samples such as human oral fluid

Electrochemical determination of chemical oxygen demand using Ti/TiO2 electrode.

To overcome the shortcomings of the conventional potassium dichromate method (PDM) for monitoring chemical oxygen demand (COD) of waters, many efforts have been made on developing quick and environment-friendly techniques. Among all alternatives, electrochemical (EC) techniques are very competitive due to their relatively simple devices and quickness. A number of electrodes have been fabricated to investigate electrochemical determination of COD. However, little work has been reported on Ti/TiO2 based electrode for this purpose. In the present work, Ti/Ti/TiO2 electrode was simply prepared by anodic oxidation of pure titanium. Aqueous solutions of potassium hydrogen phthalate and phenol were electrolyzed by chronocoulometry in a three-electrode system with Ti/Ti/TiO2 as working electrode (anode). Organic compounds were electrochemically oxidized on Ti/Ti/TiO2 electrode by hydroxyl radicals and the released electrons were recorded and transferred to currents. The electric currents were proportional to the COD values of the water samples being investigated. Based on data of COD values and corresponding currents, a linear regression equation was obtained for a certain kind of waste water. With the regression equation, current of an unknown water sample was transferred to its COD value. Conditions for the presented EC method were set up as cell voltage 2.0V v.s. SCE and pH 7.0. The linear range of COD was of about 25~530 mg/L. COD values of real waste water samples were measured by Ti/Ti/TiO2 electrode and the relative errors were all in the range of ±8% compared with data determined by conventional PDM. The electrochemicalmethodology was successfully applied to evaluate COD in waste water

A novel mixed matrix membrane of phenolphthalein hydrazide and polysulfone for the detection of copper ions in environmental water samples.

The novel membrane test strip of phenolphthalein hydrazide (PH)-polysulfone has been designed and demonstrated for Cu2+ ions detection. Before finding performance of membrane the studies with PH alone has been performed. Aqueous solutions of PH are colorless, but upon interaction with Cu2+ ions become pink (when 8.2 ≤ pH ≥ 12). The colorimetric change is initiated by the coordination of Cu2+ with PH as a polydentate ligand, opening the spirolactam ring that subsequently hydrolyses releasing phenolphthalein (P). Further membrane was preloaded with PH that could be used as a simple, low cost, and portable sensor for Cu2+ ions in environmental water samples. Given the detection limits of this sensor, a maximum response would warn the tester that Cu2+ concentrations were above safe drinking regulation values. Approximate concentrations can be determined via a color comparison chart. Different metal ions were tested in order to determine the chemodosimeters specificity, of the 12 tested ions only Hg2+ induced a similar molecular transformation (i.e., PH to P). The chemodosimeter allows the quantification of Cu2+ ions in the linear dynamic range of 0–22 μM. The Sandell sensitivity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, and relative standard deviation were found to be 0.276 μg/mL/cm2, 0.279 μM, 1.674 μM, and 0.682% respectively

Adsorption removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution on carbon-coated Fe3O4 microspheres functionalized with chloroacetic acid.

We report the preparation and employability of carbon-coated Fe3O4 (Fe3O4/C) microspheres functionalized with chloroacetic acid (CAA) for the removal of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. The prepared magnetic microspheres (Fe3O4/C-CAA) were characterized by the following techniques: X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer, vibrating sample magnetometry, and Brunauer-Emmett- Teller. The characterization results showed that Fe3O4/C microspheres were modified by CAA without any phase change. Fe3O4/C-CAA microspheres have higher adsorption capacity for MB compared to Fe3O4/C microspheres. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms, and the Langmuir adsorption model fitted well with the equilibrium data. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-secondorder kinetic models were used to describe the kinetics data. However, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model fitted better with the adsorption kinetics data

Optimization and Numerical investigation of organic dye degradation using Response Surface by green synthesized ZrO2 nanoparticles and its antibacterial activity

In this work, the tetragonal Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized by solution combustion method using Zirconium (IV) oxynitrate hydrate as the metal precursor and an oxidizer, Basella alba raw extract at 6000C. In this study, natural fuel is used to avoid harmful chemical fuels that may pollute the environment during combustion. The impact of the fuel-to-oxidant molar ratio on the surface morphological features of nanocrystalline zirconia particles has been documented. We investigated the Physico-chemical properties of the ZrO2 NPs via thorough characterizations like XRD, EDS, SEM, TEM, FTIR, UV-Vis, and BET. ZrO2 NPs exhibit perfect photocatalytic degradation activity towards Evans blue, a toxic dye. The influence of contact time, initial dye concentration, and pH were among the independent variables used in the study. The Response Surface Model (RSM) was used to optimize and describe the interdependencies of the different variables. The method was evaluated using the Box-Behnken design (BBD). A second-order polynomial model was used to properly understand the experimental results, and the effectiveness of the chosen model was verified by the strong agreement in determination coefficient values. ZrO2 NPs also exhibit good antibacterial activity on Gram-negative Klebsiella pneumoniae and Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis